Monday, July 30, 2012

4 Days - 7 Three Year Olds…We Survived!

As I mentioned on the previous post, we had a few visitors last week! Our triplet friends Emmett, Emerson & Everett came to spend 4 consecutive days with us while their parents got a MUCH needed getaway! That’s right… brand new house, mother of quadruplets and 6 months pregnant with another and I took on the challenge of adding triplet BOYS to our family. A little crazy or a friend who recognizes another MoM in need of a break…perhaps both?!?!

Everything we do at our house is done in large quantity so what’s adding 3 more, right? 3 more sippy cups to fill…

3 more plates at each meal…

3 more sets of clothing, 3 more diapers…

6 more little feet… and a few hundred more potty breaks. How hard could it be?!!?

To be honest I ran on adrenaline the entire time they were here. Much like when the quads first came home from NICU. My goal was to stay ahead of the game, organized and one step ahead of them. Meals, naps, baths and outings were all planned ahead of time which helped things run overall pretty smoothly. We set up our little friends in what will soon be the baby’s room and were good to go! Those of you not familiar with Kidco Peapods, click here!

One thing I was expecting but had no way to prepare for was the noise level I was about to endure. The 7 of them had a BLAST together and the house was constantly filled with shrieks of laughter and the sound of 14 little feet running up and down our new hardwood floors – talk about a stampede!! Despite the 105 degree TX heat, we spent a little time outside in the shade to help burn off some of that crazy energy. Here they’re looking up in the tree for the butterfly… a group pic is a group pic, even if from the back, right?!

Bret was home Thursday and Friday evening and a part of Saturday and of course, was a great help. There’s something about Dad’s and their ability to get the giggles going to no end. He spent lots of time rolling in the floor with them, flipping them upside-down and chasing them through the halls giving me a little break! Below, he’s reading them all a bedtime story on their first night. What you don’t see is me over in the corner on bended knee praying they would all sleep well that night…teehee! Really though, night time was my only true worry. This was EE&E’s first time to spend the night somewhere without their parents and I thought if they had any trouble at all it would be when the lights when out. Luckily we had NO issues and they all slept like rocks! The trio tends to get up a bit earlier than Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin so that was a little different but after a good night’s sleep, I could manage!

A few more random pics from our septuplet adventure!

Friday morning Bethany and I loaded up the burb and van and took them all to the local library for a little story time. I take the quads pretty often but with the chaos of prepping for the move, we’ve missed the last couple of months. I told her something along the lines of “Oh, there’s usually only like a total of 10 kids there, it will be EASY!” Duh Heather… it’s summer time…my guess of 10 kids was a bit off…

We walked our herd in and quickly learned that the local fire truck was going to be coming. Exciting, yes, but also meant there was a total of 50 something kids. There sat this mom with her 2 kids, that mom and dad with their kid, another mom with her one kid and then you have Bethany and I with our 7 – completely outnumbered. When the librarians told us the firemen were going to pull out the hoses and allow the kids to play and get wet, Bethany and I opted against it and took our crew out front to look at the water. 7 soaked three year olds just didn’t sound like something we were up for that day!

Another evening of cooking out on the grill while the littles played with their building blocks. They all played so well together, I was surprised. What “fights” did break out were usually within the two sets of siblings.

My Kylee Flower <3

Emerson and HIS yellow blocks. It was very clear to me that the boys were used to separating toys and such into colors…today yellow was Emerson’s and you can see the bro behind him was “only to play with” pink ;)

Here we have Everett & Baxlyn. These two are so similar and have been since they were itty bitty. There personalities are so alike it’s crazy! They both enjoy sorting, organizing and having things done certain ways. At one point the two of them lined up the blocks, end to end, along the railing of the porch. At the end they had about 4inches of porch left and another block wouldn’t quite fit. I sat and watched as they both silently somewhat panicked and contemplated how to solve the problem together. She would slide a few blocks down (leaving the small gap a few feet down from where it was) and he would try to add it there. When that didn’t work, they would slide some more and try again… it was hilarious! Eventually the two gave up and started stacking them on top of each other in a tower fashion!

One thing the quads LOVE to do lately is ride the four wheelers. We’ve got a little land here at the new house which allows for fun trips out in the woods on a regular basis. EE&E have lots of experience out on boats, but no ATV experience, Bret and I thought it would be fun to let them try. Here the boys waited and waited for the girls to come back, super excited and anxious for their turn!

Miss B and the triplets waiting for the quad boys to return…

When it came down to it, Everett was the only one brave enough to venture out while his brothers watched from the porch. He and Bret rode for a good 5-10mins and when they returned you could see Everett’s white teeth from a mile away – nothing but smiles as he enjoyed every second of his ride!

The gang after church on Sunday. What an adventure for their Sunday School teacher! I think the average age of our very small church that Sunday was 6 ;)

A little Toy Story before bed one night! Notice how Everett is snuggled up to Bret just like he’s at home, so sweet!

A little pool fun on the back deck. How cute are they? L-R Korbin, Brody, Emmett, Kylee, Emerson and (flirting) Everett & Baxlyn!

A bit of a small pool for 7 three year olds but they didn’t mind a bit!

A little tooth brushing party in the girls room!

EE&E have an older brother (age 5) and an older teenage sister, which I’m sure they’re not allowed into her stuff. They were beyond interested in all of our girls’ girly girl stuff. Kylee was happy to show them her jewelry (her new found love) stored in her vanity as well as her princess castle and accessories!

Emerson & Emmett. Non-stop laughter and fun I tell ya! Their Mama has said multiple times they are begging to come back since going back home!

Although this is sweet and all, we had to watch Miss B and these boys. We caught several little smooches going on over the 4 days! She had them wrapped around her little finger and by the end of the weekend they were calling her “Mommy” just as Korbin does…little girl and her ways of making the boys her puppets!

Overall it was a great (but challenging) 4 days but I can honestly say it was nice to get back to “just quadruplets”! You can imagine the break this Mama needed after our 4 day in home adventure! My hat is off to all you Septuplet MoMs out there…all what… 3 of you?!

That was very nice of you to babysit the triplets. It looked like a very busy but fun time. It is always great to see you on Multiples Monday on Capri + 3. Enjoy your relaxing time with 'just' quads + 1 on the way--Congratulations on your pregnancy!!!